Choices
by othluver309
Summary: Love triangles really suck. Plain and simple.
1. You love me?

**All righty, this will be a 3-shot, I think, I might turn it into a chapter story, but I hate doing more than one chapter story at the same time. This is an eventually Brucas, but starts out as a Brulian. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own ANYONE or ANYTHING.**

Brooke's POV

I woke from a deep slumber, I felt a smile tug the corner of my lips as I reached out to skim my fiancée's bare back. As Julian turned around to face me, his smile widened and he leaned over to kiss me. I closed my eyes in utter bliss as I felt the flame roar in my stomach. His lips moved very gently over mine, the exact opposite of last night, but I loved his kisses. And...other stuff...

"Julian," I groaned as I moved away when he started kissing my neck, "We have to get up." Julian grumbled but got up all the same and headed over to his bathroom. Our bathroom, it would be in a few months. I gave a mind blowing grin at the thought and looked down at the ring on my finger. The small diamond shimmered and I took it off, setting it on the dresser as I got dressed. After I finished throwing on my jeans, I put the ring back on my finger.

It had been five years since high school ended and I and Julian were living in Tree Hill again. I have a successful company called Clothes over Bro's and Julian is a movie producer. Yeah life's great. Two years ago we moved back and I opened a C/B store in Tree Hill where Karen's café used to be.

Lucas spends most of the time at my store so I am not surprised when I see him on my couch locked on his computer.

"What you're writing broody?" I asked him and flopped down on the couch beside him. He opened his mouth to say something, when I heard a female voice shriek "Why didn't you tell me?"

I turned, startled, to see Haley, running her way to us. She looked confused, but thrilled. When she reached us, she smacked us both hard upside the head.

"OWW!" Both Luke and I cried in unison, and then she squeezed us in a bone-crushing hug.

"How can you not tell me that you two are engaged? I mean, I heard rumors that Julian and you had broken up, Brooke, but I had no idea why! I'm so happy for you two!" Haley rambled. When we heard what she was saying, we both jumped back in surprise.

"What?" We both cried in amazement. Lucas looked at me, then Haley, then me again.

"First off, no Hales, we are not engaged!" I said in an over-patient voice. Haley then looked confused, pointed at my left hand.

"Then why do you have a ring? And why were you hugging?" She challenged.

"I was hugging Lucas in hello, and I'm not engaged to him, I'm engaged to Julian." They both let out audible gasps and we stood in an awkward silence for about three minutes. That's when Haley pulled herself together and scooped me in a big hug.

"Congratulations then, I'll go call Julian and yell at him for not telling me," Haley said, and with that she hurried out of the store to her black convertible as if her life depended on it. I faced Lucas, I knew he would probably be angry for being kept in the dark, I was right. His face was slowly growing redder. I leaned forward and put my hands on his shoulders.

"Lucas, take a deep breath, I know you're mad, but calm down." Lucas shook out of my grip.

"What the hell Brooke? I mean, I thought you would have told me, at least before I found out from a frickin' ring," He snapped. I was a bit shocked at how angry he was, and I let him know it.

"What the hell Luke? It's my private life, I'm sorry for wanting two weeks to myself to get used to it!" I snapped. "And F.Y.I. this is my store and I don't want to see you here anymore. Get out".

After I closed the store I looked around and saw that Lucas was nowhere to be seen.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. I knew it was partially my fault and I went and knocked on his door to apologize. When the door flung open, I could see past him a ruined lamp, and that his eyes were slightly red...from crying? I didn't get it. He stared down at me, crossing his arms.

"Luke, listen, I'm sorry, I over reacted, and I should have told you sooner," I said, he nodded, and stepped aside to let me in. When the door closed I pulled him over to his couch and sat him down, and sat down by him.

"Lucas, what's wrong? Really, I don't want any bullshit answers, I want the truth," I demanded. Lucas took a deep breath and looked deep into my eyes, and seemed to blurt out the next five words. The five words I thought I'd never hear from him. The five words that I would have died with happiness if he'd told me before I started dating Julian.

"I'm in love with you."


	2. Lucas, Brooke, Julian

**Disclaimer: I own NADA. I WISH I owned One Tree Hill, but will that ever happen? HIGHLY unlikely!**

After I left Lucas' house, I went to my house. Not Julian's, I couldn't face him at the moment, knowing what I knew. As I drove through Tree Hill, I turned on the radio, and Augustana's old song Boston came on. I smiled and sang along, remembering the familiar lyrics. I grinned remembering the first time I heard it. It was Nathan and Haley's wedding. I had danced with Lucas that night and was one of our best moments in high school.

When I unlocked my apartment and stepped in, my dog, Scott, ran over, purring in excitement to see me. I leaned and scooped him up, hugging him to my chest, as the memories of the day crashed down on me.

_*Flashback*_

_"What?" I whispered. I stood up shakily, and began pacing around his living room. I felt him watching me, probably trying to decide what the heck my reaction meant. I stopped at the chair at his desk and sat down and buried my face in my hands, taking a few deep breaths._

_"Brooke? Are you okay?" In less than a second, Lucas had stood and crossed the room and was leaning down. I looked up and his sweet breath hit my face. And like that, I lost all my self control and kissed him. At first it felt like he was going to draw back, but I locked my arms around his neck, refusing to let him to go. I felt him lose himself in the kiss, and soon we were making out passionately on his couch. The flame I felt when Julian kissed me like this was like a spark compared to Luke's. I literally felt like I could die with all the fireworks going off. His kisses tingled in my veins like nothing I had ever felt before._

_That's when I heard a gasp. I pulled away quickly and saw Rachel standing in the now open doorway, her mouth wide open with shock. Lucas was confused until he saw our friend standing at the door, his gaze went down to my ring finger and he winced. I couldn't even speak, I stared at the floor in shame._

_*End of Flashback*_

"Oh my gosh, I'm a fucking whore!" I cried out. I went and collapsed on my couch, setting Scott down and grabbing a pillow, hugging it to my chest and burying my face in it as sobs wracked my body. I saw Julian's face, and imagined the hurt when he found out. It wasn't an if. This was Tree Hill, the one place that no secret stays a secret for long. I knew in my heart I loved both of them. And I couldn't bear to break either of their hearts. But I knew that I couldn't string them along. I buried my face deeper into the pillow, clutching it with all my might, when the doorbell rang.

I groaned and got up, looking through the peephole. It was Haley and Rachel. I sighed in relief and opened the door, Haley ran through and flung her arms around me. Rachel too wrapped her arms around me. She had sworn not to tell anyone, but I knew she had made an exception for Haley. I didn't care. I needed both of them.

"Hey, come on, let's sit down," Haley said gently leading the three of us to my couch, kicking the door closed behind us with her heel. Rachel untangled herself and went into the kitchen. Whenever one of us went through the break-up (meaning, me, Haley was in a marital bliss and Rachel had normally done any breaking with her relationships, and was always fine with it), Rachel would go in and raid for all the chocolate available, and if there was none, go out and get some, while Haley comforted me with soothing words while trying to gracefully extract information so we could bring down the heart breaker.

"I only know that Rachel found you and Lucas groping on the couch in his living room room, so I want to be filled in on how THAT happened," Haley informed me, a bit eagerly. I nodded and filled her in on the whole story, Rachel listening in from the kitchen. When I finished, fresh tears started rising and I threw my pillow across the room, narrowly missing Rachel as she came in with a huge bunch of chocolate ice cream.

"I'm such a whore! How can I do that to them?" I shouted, and buried my face into Haley's arm. I felt Haley sigh patiently, and she grabbed my chin and made me look in her eyes.

"Brooke! Cut the drama! Your only making this worse than it has to be," Haley said calmly. Rachel nodded in agreement and handed me a tub and a spoon. I dove for it like it was the last thing on earth. While I was eating, Haley and Rachel started a pros and cons list for each person, and then a 'Brooke' list. For the next hour, we filled out things that I wanted out of my ideal relationship. Then we started on the 'Julian List'.

"A big one is he dated you for three years," Rachel said, jotting down the fact, "Along with he proposed to you, making sure you had a healthy relationship. That has to mean something."

"Yeah Rachel, but he doesn't always takes things seriously enough! That could be bad in the future. Brooke needs someone mature enough to handle things as they come. Julian might make a joke about something very serious and avoid the issue," Haley pointed out. Rachel nodded and added that statement to the cons list. We spent an hour adding things to both lists, then started on Lucas'.

"Put down they both know how to handle each other. Years of working together has made them know each other inside and out, with few exceptions. Brooke, I'm sorry, but I bet Julian has no idea about these 'occasions' we have, whereas Lucas has sometimes even dropped by, making sure one or the other was okay," Haley reasoned. I nodded in agreement as the list went on. Then we compared traits and looked at my 'ideal' list and put down which person we thought best fit the description, or the situation.

At the end, Rachel and Haley went over it, wincing occasionally. I was staring at them in anticipation.

"What is is?" I demanded. I was growing nervous. They looked from me to the list, than back to me. Finally, Haley handed me the list and I carefully took it, my hands trembling slightly. I stared at the list, processing the information. I saw why they had winced and drew in a sharp breath. Lucas was the majority chosen for my ideal relationship. I crumpled the paper, and threw it into the waste basket by the hall.

"Dammit," I yelled, throwing another pillow at my door. I looked at the ring on my finger, tears pouring down my face. Rachel crawled forward and hugged me around the shoulders and asked the own question I dreaded.

"What are you going to do?"

*** 4 hours later***

Haley was asleep on my couch, and Rachel on the floor. I smiled slightly at my friend's sleeping forms, and got an afghan out of the linen closet. I shook it out and draped it over Rachel, and a fuzzy blanket from my room went to Haley. I went into my room and shut the door. I sighed and rubbed my face with the back of my hand. I extracted my iPod out of my purse and put in my earphones and put it on shuffle. Immediately Demi Lovato's Catch Me came on. I groaned and turned it off.

I went to my bed, flopping on it, and withdrew my 'personal' laptop from inside my pillow case. I checked my email, and then went to Twitter. I checked Julian's status first. It said _Confused; the love of my life won't answer my calls :(_. I winced and hurriedly went to Lucas'. I felt even worse.

_Not everyday something extraordinary happens. Today, it happened to me. I can't even relay how I feel. It's complicated. She's complicated._I went back to my profile on twitter, and posted, _All's fair in love and war. But I don't see why it's fair. One or more end up broken for the wrong reasons._I clicked 'update'. The first responder was obviously a fan, coblover, and she or he posted _Trouble with Julian?_I was surprised someone on the outside looking in could see it. I went to her page, and saw direct message available, so I clicked on that and replied _Yes, please keep this private._

I don't know who was more surprised, me or the fan. But she (I had a strong feeling, plus looking at her earlier statuses, I came to that logical conclusion) replied back: _Well, don't listen to what others say, even if it's the wrong thing to do, do what you think you should do. No one knows you, better than you._

I admit it was a tad corny, but she was right. I sighed and logged out, after writing back a polite thank you. With that I curled up and went to bed, sleeping on the decision I had to make.


	3. Choices

**But seriously, please review for this last chapter; tell me how I did over all, but no flaming. **

**Disclaimer: I own NADA. **

"Brooke!" I jolted awake at the voice. His voice. I looked over and saw a very confused Julian sitting on my bed, his hand on my thigh, from shaking me awake, it seemed. I gave a sleepy smile and sat up, and stretched, not sure what to say yet. It was Julian who spoke first.

"Brooke, what happened yesterday? Are you all right?" Julian raised his hand and tenderly caressed my face. I closed my eyes and followed through one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I leaned away then got up and faced the window as I shook my head, biting my lip.

"Anything for you?" I whirled to see Lucas, who was now standing in Julian's place. He came over to me and gently pressed his lips against mine.

"Brooke..." his voice whispered, and I jolted awake, swearing I could feel his breath against my ear. I sat up, and looked around at my room. The rising sun set off the yellow paint in my room. The homey comforter that hugged me was pale blue with white flowers, and the sheets were a creamy white. My eyes looked around at the familiar sight, but something seemed...off.

Shrugging, I got up, and went into my bathroom and immediately turned on my shower the hottest it could possibly get, then undressed and jumped in. As the steam rose, I leaned my head against the shower wall and closed my eyes, enjoying the pounding, hot water against my bare skin. After I stepped out and dried my hair, I wrapped my towel around myself and walked into my bedroom, jumping at the sight of a certain blond man sitting on my unmade bed, stroking Scott.

"What the Hell?" I screamed, I could feel my face turn red with fury and embarrassment as he looked up saw me, and a light pink spread over his own cheeks.

"Out!" I commanded pointing my finger, and Lucas ran but tripped on his own shoelace, and hit the floor with an 'oof'. I winced, and my embarrassment and anger quickly turned to worry as I hurried over and bent down, and put my hand on his shoulder, the other keeping my towel tight around me (thank the Lord I loved the ginormus fuzzy ones) and hissed in sympathy on the bruise he had managed to obtain on his cheek.

"I'm sorry, are you all right?" I asked worriedly. He nodded, then looked me up and down and said wryly, "Yeesh Davis, if I had known this was all it took for you to chase after me; I would have done it before you started dating that bozo." Before I could yell, he swallowed, and looked away, and I sighed, realizing he was using immaturity to cover his embarrassment.

"Get out while I dress," I said calmly, rising up, he nodded and I put my hand down to grasp his, and pull him up. His eyes lingered on me as he slowly stood up, the compassion in his eyes frightened me. I closed the door behind him, and sank down clutching my chest. The feelings for him were so strong. My original plan to stay with Julian, since I had been with him longer, was in the dust. I then heard Julian's voice in the hall. And my eyes widened. I rushed to my closet, and threw on underwear, a bra, a black camisole, skinny jeans, a quarter length cashmere red sweater, and slipped into my fig argyle knit Uggs. I wasn't filming today, so casual dress was fine.

I finger combed my wavy hair, and ignoring the inviting make-up on my dresser, stepped into the hall and shut my door. I quickened to the sound of three arguing voices. Julian, Lucas, and Haley stood facing each other, arms crossed, deep frowns, and stand-off stances. I saw Rachel sneaking out the door, and waved for her to hurry. I didn't want her to hear what was coming.

The other three whirled to see me, my arms outstretched, waving for Rachel to go. With their attention on me, she managed to escape.

"What the hell is going on here Brooke?" Julian asked in a low voice, "I come here, finding Lucas answering your door, and Haley in the kitchen with Rachel. What are you doing?" he shouted, as Haley crossed over to me and crossed her arms.

"Being more of a friend to her than you've ever been!" Haley snapped. Hurt cross Julian's face, and I reached out to touch her arm, "Hales..."

"No! I'm done with this drama!" Haley shrieked. She pointed at Julian, who froze. "The reason I assumed you were marrying Lucas was that over a month ago, I caught your real 'fiancée' cheating on you with Peyton! I confronted him and he said you'd broken up! You haven't really mentioned him since, so I assumed that what he said was true and you didn't want to talk about it!" I could see the tears in her face, the hurt that she'd been lied to by one of our friends; I also saw the shock on Julian's and Luke's faces, along with anger on the latter.

"Julian," I asked quietly, keeping my emotions under control, and making sure none showed on my face, "Have you cheated with Peyton since then? Or anyone else? And be honest, I'm breaking up with you anyway, I just want to know." My voice had gone flat. By the end, and I felt myself trembling. Kissing Lucas by a fit of emotion was one thing, but deliberately cheating on me was another. And from his guilty look, I knew the answer. I retrieved the ring from my finger and walked over to Julian, and put it in his palm.

"Yesterday, Lucas and I kissed," I said quietly. Everyone looked at me startled, Julian's eyes showed some pain, Lucas and Haley's just plain astonishment. "I didn't mean to, but it happened. But cheating on me, going beyond that, is too much. I'm not too mad, surprisingly, maybe, this is really a sign, you know?"

"Yeah," Julian sighed, scuffed his shoe, and looked up into my eyes, "I'm truly sorry Brooke, I mean, I loved you, but Peyton...I couldn't hurt you, and we'd been dating for a long time. I just couldn't decide who to keep." He closed his eyes, and opened them again.

"I hope we're friends again, someday, Brooke. But I think we both know we can't do that right now." I nodded in agreement and watched him walk out the door. I smiled grimly and turned back to my two friends. I then felt a hard hug as Lucas took me in his arms. I leaned against his chest and breathed deeply. He rubbed my back soothingly and I felt Haley's gentle hand stroke my hair. I looked up and smiled weakly at each of them.

*Brucas*

It had been four weeks since the break-up with Julian, and he was already with Peyton. Lucas, well, I wasn't sure where we stood at the moment. He hadn't tried to kiss me again, or ask me out to anything where there wouldn't a lot of other people. I heard the door open and looked up too see Lucas staring at me.

"Hey" I said and he sat next to me on the couch.

He didn't say anything just crashed his lips on mine. I kissed him back just a fiercely and then he pulled away. Before I could ask him what that meant I saw that he was already out. Knowing I had to end this mess, I got in my car and started driving through the town.

I found him in the River court, playing basketball. "Some things never change," I remarked, grinning as I sit on the bleachers. His startled blue eyes met mine, and I saw his half smile reach his face, "Yeah, I guess so," he said softly.

"Luke?" I started, and came forward a bit, then stopped halfway on the court, and bit my lip. He turned in his chair, and raised his left eyebrow, urging me to go on.

"Listen, a lot has happened these past few weeks, and, well, I want you to know...I...I need you. As a friend, as something more? Whatever you want. But, please don't push me away, I love you!" I blurted out before my brain caught up with my mouth. I widened my eyes, mirroring his own surprise. But, those words had him out of his game and his face hovering close to mine a split second as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

"Really?" He asked softly, his sparkly eye a light with hope.

"Yes, really," I said softly, and then he leaned down and kissed me. I closed my eyes, as the wonderful sensation of my heart sped up, my arms tingled as he rubbed them, and our frantic kisses, sent shudders down my spine.

"All right, break it up!" Commanded Haley's voice. We broke apart and I gave her a death glare. She simply smirked back and replied, "I want to be the maid of honor."

-Fin-


End file.
